Apparatus for making spirally-wound tubes.



G. F. JENKINS.

APPARATUS FOR MAKING SPIRALLY WOUND TUBES.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 25, 190B.

Patented May 18, 1909.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

Wit" 200w ENKINS.

G SPIRALLY WOUND TUBES.

LED MAY25, 1908.

Patented May 18, 1909.

2 SHEETS SHEET 2.

APPARATUS FOR M APPLICATION 921 ,842.

UNITED STATES PATENT op nion- CHARLES FRANCIS JENKINS, OF WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COIIIMBIA, ASSTGNOR,BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, TO SINGLE SERVICE PACKAGE CORPORATION "OF AMERICA,

CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

APPARATUS FOR MAKING SPI'BALLY-WOUND TUBES.

Specification 01' Letters Patent.

Application filed May 26, 1908. Serial No. 484,787.

Patented Hay 18, 1909.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES FRANoIs JENKINS, citizen of the United States, residing at Washington, in the District of Columbia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Apparatus for Making Spirally-VVonnd Tubes, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the acconnmnying drawing.

This invention relates to making paper tubes and particularly to making spirally wound square tubes of any desired length.

(ylindrical tubes are made by winding strips spirally around a fixed mandrel and continually sliding the formed tube forward; and a very successful method of doing this is by passing one fold of an oblique endless belt around the mandrel and then continually feeding a stri of paper beneath this fold. As the paper sips upon the mandrel more easily than on the belt it is continually advanced along the mandrel while being wound about it by the belt. Usually two parallel laterally overlapping strips are gununed and passed under the belt together, and the inclination of the belt and strips to the mandrel are such that with the proper width of strip the edges of the strip forming either the inner or the outer tube-wall layer are abuttcd so that the layer is practically continuous. Such tubes are em loyed for many purposes, and are extensive y used for' making boxes, being cut into short lengths and provided with paper bottoms and closures, the whole sometimes being waterproofed with paraffin or the like. For mak'ing boxes of this general kind a square tube is on many accounts highly desirable, but it has not heretofore been found practicable to produce a square tube in this manner, since a square tube obviously cannot turn on a mandrel which it. fits, nor can it be produced by any prior method, so far as I am aware, that can compete in cost with round tubes.

The leading object of this invention is to obviate this diliiculty, and this end is attained by using a novel mandrel and allowing the same to rotate freely under the action of a paper winding belt.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a plan view of the apparatus with the strips being wound and advanced by two belts. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the spindle, its

supports, and the paper aides. Fig. 3 is an en arged cross section t rough a portion of the mandrel around which the belt passes. Fig. 4 is a corresponding side elevation. Fig. 5 is a fragmentary cross section corresponding to Fig. 3 and showing a slight modification. Figs. 6 and 7 are views corresponding to .l igs. 3, 4, respectively, but s lowing a further modification.

in these views, A represents a suitable base upon which is fixed a standard B, and (l is a. square mandrel having one end revolubly mounted in bearings, preferably ball or roller bearings, I), carried by said standard. ,This mandrel consists of a square bar of metal having its corners cut away at certain points to receive a series of slightly separated conical rollers 1 1,1 mounted to rotate freely upon shafts E set in the mandrel at an angle of 45 with the plane of one of its faces, the arrangement being such that a plane slightly without and parallel to the corresponding plane face of the mandrel will be tangent to all the rollers E which are at that angle or corner of the mandrel. In the same angle of the mandrel are similarly mounted like but oppositely turned rollers F which alternate with and overlap the rollers E. These rollers F all project equally slightly beyond a second face of the mandrel in precisely the same manner as the rollers E, and their outer sides lie in a plane at right angles to the tangent plane before mentioned, while the extreme outer edges of the larger bases of the two sets of rollers lie in the intersection of the two planes. Two like sets of rollers are similarly mounted in each of the four corners of the mandrel, and if paper he wound about this portion of the mandrel it will bend sharply over the many slightly separated points, of the rollers, which lie in the said lines of intersection and its intermediate portions will be flat upon the rollers slightly outside of and parallel to the corresponding face of the body of the mandrel, thus forming a square tube slightly outside and larger than that. body. This tube will be free to slide longitudinally of the mandrel since it. is in contact with the rollers only, and it will be I made to so slide by the action of the endless belt I, having one fold wound about the mandrel as usual.

To feed the strips to the belt two oppositely inclined guides G are provided to deliver the two strips upon opposite sides of the mandrel, at a little distance from the belt after glue or other adhesive has been a plied to the proper surfaces by devlces not s own. These guides are hinged to sulpportmg standards 11 so that theyrisc an d fal with the raising and lowering of the strips by the rotation of the square mandrel which is slightly enlar ed between the guides and the rollers. The angle at which the strips meet the mandrel is proportioned to the size of the latter and the w1dth of the strips, so that each complete turn of the mandrel will carry the strip forward through a distance equal to its Width F measured arallel to the axis of the mandrel,

and there y the edges are caused to abut. As is usual, the strips are so delivered that they break joints.

Where the formed tube in advancing along the mandrel leaves the belt above mentioned and the rollers upon which belt presses it, it meets no resistance being larger than the body of the mandrel, but to aid the forming belt in feeding it, a second segment of the mandrel is provided with rollers in form and arrangement like those already mentioned, and about this segment passes a belt I similar to the other. The end of the formed tube being inserted within the mandrel encircling fold of this belt, the tube is thereafter drawn forward with the greatest certainty under all probable conditions and is delivered from the free end of the mandrel continuously as a fully set square tube which may be subsequently cut into short segments as desired.

In some cases it is desirable to have the corners of the tube rounded, particularly when pressed one-piece flanged closures are to dbe applied in making boxes therefrom, an rounded as shown at J J, Fig. 5. It is also quite possible to use cylindrical rollers K, K, L, L, as shown'in Figs. 6 and 7 where M represents the mandrel. of the rollers at each angle are parallel alternately to the two adjacent faces of the man- 5 drel, and both the outer sides and outer ends i of the rollers should project slightly beyond the correspondim faces of the body of the mandrel. In either form shown the paper total contact surface is but a small fractlon of that of the entire mandrel, and even if the i rollers all failed to rotate or were purposely fixed so that they became in effect mere rounded protuberances, friction would be in such cases the rollers may all be- In this case the axes 1 easil than in the bight of the belt, the tube wou d be fed forward so as to give fairly practical results. 4

What I claim is:

1. In tube formin devices, the combination with a non-c indrical mandrel rovided with roum ed surface projections adapted to hold stock wound about it out of contact with its main surface and facilitate the slippin of the stock along the mandrel, of strip delivering devices alongside the mandrel, and means for winding the stri s delivered by said devices s irally about t e mandrel and for sliding t e formed tube along the latter.

2. In tube forming devices, the combination with a, revolubly mounted non-cylindrical mandrel provided with surface projections adapted to hold stock wound about it out of contact with its main surface, of means for winding stock strips about the mandrel and at the same time sliding them along the latter.

3. In tube formin devices, the combination with a revolubIy mounted mandrel of rectangular cross section of a series of rollers mounted in each side or face near its margins and projecting outwardly beyond said aces.

4. In tube formin mechanism, the combination with a revoIubly mounted mandrel of rectangular cross section provided with series of rollers projecting outward beyond its surfaces near their margins, of two similar belts equally inclined to the mandrel and each having one fold wound about the mandrel, and means for delivering stock strips obliquely into the bight of one of the belts.

5. The combination with the revoluble s uare mandrel rovided with the two series I o projectin rol ers in each of its faces, of an ob ique end ess belt havin one fold assed around the mandrel, and "nged uid es arranged to deliver stock stri s ob' uely to the mandrel and to rise and all as t e rotation of the mandrel raises and lowers the strips carried by the guides, respectively.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

CHARLES FRANCIS JENKINS.

Witnesses:

WALLACE GREENE, W. CLARENCE DUVALL.

slight and the tube slipping over them more 

